GoDaddy to follow in Google’s China footsteps

GoDaddy, the web domain registration company better known for its risque Super Bowl commercials than its political principles, announced today that it will stop registering domains in China in protest against cyber attacks and censorship: "We believe that many of the current abuses of the Internet originating in China are due to a lack of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

GoDaddy, the web domain registration company better known for its risque Super Bowl commercials than its political principles, announced today that it will stop registering domains in China in protest against cyber attacks and censorship:

GoDaddy, the web domain registration company better known for its risque Super Bowl commercials than its political principles, announced today that it will stop registering domains in China in protest against cyber attacks and censorship:

"We believe that many of the current abuses of the Internet originating in China are due to a lack of enforcement against criminal activities by the Chinese government," Christine Jones, Go Daddy Group Inc general counsel, told a congressional commission hearing on Wednesday.

She said GoDaddy had repelled dozens of extremely serious attacks that appear to have originated in China in the first three months of 2010. GoDaddy would, however, continue to manage .cn domain names of existing customers.

"Our experience as been that China is focused on using the Internet to monitor and control the legitimate activities of its citizens, rather than penalizing those who commit Internet-related crimes," Jones said.

I’d be interested to know how much business GoDaddy is actually doing in China. Maybe I’m just being cynical, but since GoDaddy’s whole business model depends on grabbing media attention, they may figure that the good publicity is worth taking a hit in the Chinese market. Not sure if it will be as effective an attention-grabber as those Danica Patrick ads but worth a shot I suppose. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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